‘Band of Brothers/The Pacific Special Edition Gift Set’ DVD – Winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated and keep your eyes peeled for our next awesome giveaway!

On November 8th, HBO’s double threat of war drama, Band of BrothersandThe Pacific, will be available as a box set on both DVD and Blu-ray. Thirteen discs of entertainment include everything on the original dedicated releases, but this set comes with a special hour-long documentary called He Has Seen War.

On its own, this fantastic documentary is worth your attention, but as part of the entire set, it’s a nice touch. If you don’t own any of these titles, you are truly missing out.

Valued at $160, this is definitely a great DVD set to win. Be sure to clear some room on your shelf as it takes up a healthy chunk of space. We will select ONE winner to walk home with the box set before it is released for sale.

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About the Miniseries

One of HBO’s crowning achievements in original TV programming was the 2001 historical miniseries Band of Brothers. Almost a decade later they presented the follow-up, The Pacific. With 14 Emmy wins between the two, HBO definitely found a huge market for the long-form war tale. With Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks behind them, these two miniseries maintained huge popularity.

Band of Brothers focuses on an airbone infantry called Easy Company. It starts with their growing camaraderie in boot camp through their experiences in World War II. Many of the most iconic battles of World War II are showcased through the company’s perspective, which gave it a much more personalized feel, with a clear connection to its unofficial predecessor Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg and Hanks brought the positive reactions from their film into this miniseries to continue sharing stories of the war and those involved.

It explores such tales through the shared stories of real soldiers. Part of the beauty of Band of Brothers is its ability to hyperfocus on one or two soldiers and their personal journey through each episode. By the end, you have a relationship with every character shown and they feel real and fleshed out.

In a similar fashion, The Pacific turns the focus over to the Pacific Theater where many more stories were happening and the creators felt they were equally as important to share. They were right, as fans came back without hesitation and the show earned even more accolades than Band of Brothers. While there are some stunning battle scenes, many of the stories follow characters off the field of battle and the impact of the war on their personal lives.

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Houlie3 years ago

My favorite scene is scene when they are paratrooping into Europe .. It makes me think of my grandfather and all the stories he told me growing up he was in the 44th infantry division and i really enjoy these series I watched half of the pacific before hbo pulled it

My favorite scene was in Band of Brothers, when they first find the concentration camp. The acting, the set, everything was so realistic, the soldiers anger and confusion at the townspeople. When Webster is yelling at the baker, it sucked me in and felt so real. WWII and the Holocaust have always been interests of mine, but to see the soldiers reactions, and then to free these people, only to have to lock them up again, it was by far one of the most memorable moments of any movie or tv series to me. I felt like the scene really gave a face to the Holocaust and its victims, and even showed the soldier’s side of it, which was not something I had seen much of in a show or movie.

There are a few scenes, mos tof them when they are about in the field…but my most is the d day drop, as it reminds me of my squad and I during the gulf war about to go thru the mine field…I miss that level of esprit de corps and comeraderie.

My favorite scene in Band of Brothers is in the episode “The Breaking Point” when they are battling at Foy, Belgium. Lt. Dike is screwing up and leading his men to death when Lt. Speirs runs in and suicidally runs all the way across the battlefield, behind enemy lines, and eventually becomes the Company’s new leader.

I love how balls-to-the-wall and no-nonsense Speirs is in how he leads and fights. He fights expecting to die, not expecting to survive and I think that’s what made him a great leader!

I absolutely love the Band of Brothers miniseries. Its hard to pick one moment as my favorite. I think Bastogne is the best. You really get to see how miserable things were and the hardships the soldiers had to go through, mainly, the medics. To see (the death and injuries) and have to go through with the things they had to with very limitted supplies would have been a nightmare.

I loved Damian Lewis as Richard Winters and pretty much every scene he was in. Very well casted. Absolutely loved it!

the scene where theyve made it off the beach in Band Of Brothers and have started taking prisoners on the trail and one of the prisoners in perfect english asks for a cigerette. and we find out that he’s actually american of german decent from a town in Oregon. Im from Oregon so that hit home a wee bit.

I thought that both series had absolutely beautiful moments. However I thought the development of the Private Blithe, who experiences shell shock. As he works to overcome it, he’s consistently hampered with blindness. He keeps hiding and shying away from battle, but is finally pushed into the fray by Speirs and Winters. After the battle (Bloody Gulch) is over, he finds a dead soldier and takes the edelweiss flower from his body. The flower symbolizes strength. Because it is so hard to get, it’s considered a badge for only the strongest of soldiers. When Blithe puts it on, it shows the struggles he’s overcome to become a good soldier. However, a few scenes later, he’s shot by a sniper and taken to a hospital. The image of him sitting in the bed, receiving his purple heart is one of the strongest images that’s stuck with me throughout the series, as someone who has had multiple family members in wars, because it shows that not everyone may be ready for war, but those who have to work up the courage seem to truly inspire.

Frank Perconte: Hey, George. George Luz: Yeah? Frank Perconte: Kind of remind you of Bastogne? George Luz: Yeah, now that you mention it. Except, of course, there’s no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren’t f****** exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah… Frank… other than that, it’s a lot like Bastogne. Frank Perconte: Right? George Luz: Bull, smack him for me please? [thump] George Luz: Thank you.

My dad and I always used to laugh at this scene. With my dad retiring from the Army in January, after 27 years I figure this would be a pretty good retirement present for a college aged kid to give him.

I think one of the best scenes from the series Band of Brothers is when easy company attacks those gun turrets, running through the trenches, chucking hand grenades and such at the guns. The tension is palpable, and down right terrifying, and the semi-victorious ending all the more sweet.

My favorite scene was when Winters (Damien Lewis) was telling Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) about the man that was holding Easy together at Bastogne and how all the men were remarking about this guy and Lipton had no idea Winters was talking about him.

I also remember one of the guys in the interview portion talking about how everyone was going down to enlist and two of the guys from his little home town were 4F’ed and they went home and committed suicide because they couldn’t serve. “It was a different time.”

During my collegiate baseball years, my coach always put a premium on preparation. During our preseason we used to run up a hill called Euclid, as a team, with our coach standing at the top yelling at us. No one enjoyed it but it made us all stronger and eventually we won a national championship because of our preparation.

The Currahee scene in Band of Brothers has always had a special place with me for that reason. Knowing that our military puts a special emphasis on preparing our troops for anything that they may encounter and making them work as a cohesive unit to fight alongside each other makes me proud to stand behind each one of them. Without things like running that hill the ending to the war story could have been much, much different and it is evident throughout the rest of the series that these guys fought for each other as much as for you and me.

From The Pacific, after Eugene returned home he was about to go hunting with his father.

As he was walking with the shotgun in his hand, he completely broke down and could not go on. It was too much of a reminder of the patrols he went on and the PSS he suffered from his time during the war.

I think I need to further qualify why this scene made it the most stand out scene of the series.

Eugene was the “Every man”. He wanted to do his duty despite his limitations (asthma) and copious warnings from his father who wanted to protect him. He wasn’t a stand out hero who was picked to charge an enemy line. He wasn’t the protagonist who lead the others in times of doubt or the antagonist who created an obstacle in the plot. And he didn’t play the sacrificial character (as most Hollywood productions create in war movies) who dies heroically during the climax. He was just an ordinary guy. He was you and me.

What made him stand out, though, is he exemplified the struggle of what all the Marines went through in the Pacific. Not just surviving. But also showing bravery, fear, breaking down and coping (as he knew how to cope).

All the culminations of horrors that Eugene “Every man” had to endure came to bear when asked to just go on a simple hunt with his dad. Something that most of us would either take for granted or relish in doing with their fathers. It was taken away from him and left him with survivor’s guilt.

But his dad was there for him. Even being a tough, battle hardened Marine, he still needed his dad.

Eugene said (while breaking down), “I’m sorry, Dad.” And his Dad held him and said, “It’s alright… you don’t have to apologize to me.”

He did his duty. He stood strong. He came home. And he was supported when he needed it most.

My favorite (well not one scene but collection of scenes) is/are from episode seven when Easy is camped in the Forests near Foy. You can see not only the physical wear and fatgigue but the affect of losing morale, emotional loss, and the mental breakdown of these soldiers. They had been through so much and just the combination of doubting the man leading you, the weather and lack of supplies, and fear that the enemy you’ve been fighting is just through the tree line is gut wrenching. The episode is pretty appropriately titled “The Breaking Point”. If I had to pick a favorite scene from that episode it would be when we see the inept and un-accountable commander popping in and out and doing nothing to help these men and the inability of those who can and want to do something to change the situation. Absolutely my favorite episode of an amazing series.

I think the best scene for me was not one of action but one of reflection. One of the final scenes of Band of Brothers, where the remaining soldiers were playing baseball. The narration describing how far they’ve come as a group and personally. It was very moving.

Both films were fantastic for their own individual reasons. It is Band of Brothers that wins my heart over the Pacific for favorite scene though. Albert Blithe in the episode “Carentan” really pulled the heart strings. Not only was the scope of this episode large (ie…airdrop and the German counterattack) But it focused on mainly one character and his evolution of becoming a soldier. While most of the episodes were fantastic because they were sections of a whole, Carentan with Albert Blithe was a complete episode that could have stood on it’s on. It truly followed each step of the book “Hero with 1000 faces.”

It was because of finding the episode that I am able to tell you which scene is absolutely the best of the series. Blithe and his interaction with Captain Spiers in the fox hole is a defining moment for both characters. As you see where Blithe starts his change from a confused and cowardly soldier, to a fearless man who starts to live his life moment at a time. And the mythic Spiers who we had only heard of as a monster, showing his leadership and giving a glimpse of what kind of a man he really is. Poignant and classic.

John Basilone’s speech in the The Pacific was my favorite. “That’s what the enemy is to you huh? A buck tooth cartoon dreamed up by some a-hole on Madison Avenue to sell soap. Let me tell you something The Japanese soldier has been he has been at war since you were in #@%&ing diapers!…. But never ever fail to respect their desire to put you and your buddies in an early grave” A poignant message to send up and coming soldiers.

MY favorite scene was the opening scene in the 8th or 9th episode of BoB. With the opening sequence showing the destruction of the war and the locals salvaging what they can while a quartet plays String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131 (Beethoven)….and the crew listening/watching….there was something so heartbreaking and beautiful in that simple scene when they’re told that Hitler’s dead while the musicians played on.

I absolutely loved “The Pacific.” I honestly can’t think of a moment that it didn’t feel so very real, the casting, writing, locations, directing were all so wonderful!

There were so many scenes to think about but if I had to pick just one, it was Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello), after finding out about his heart problem, stood talking to his father, determined to go join the Marines. The look on Mazzello’s face and the way he spoke the lines just got to me.

My favorite scene in Band of Brothers was in the episode featuring Donnie Wahlburg. The voiceover scene at the church in the end where he talks about their casualties as the soldiers fade away was fantastic. It was a great calming visual to hit home that these men would never return home.

When Speirs runs out into the open across the town of Foy, passing the Germans like they weren’t even there. Pretty much any scene with Speirs is great in my book. Reminds me just how tough that generation was.

the scene in the Pacific where Basillone is running back and forth between machine gun posts fighting off the waves of enemies in the rain. I live in San Diego and there is a freeway named after him. Every time I drive by it it gives me goose bumps.

I think one of the most bone-chilling scenes in the series is when they reach to the abandoned Nazi concentration camp. The images and cinematography there were etched into my mind. They leave you puzzled about everything and reminds you, once more, that you are not watching just “another action movie” this is mankind’s history, whether we like it or not. Although I can’t describe it as a “favorite scene”, I would describe it more as a “scene that impacted me the most”.